Stories

Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta against Jerry Quarry at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium on October 26, 1970, is often relegated to the footnotes of Ali’s legacy despite its crucial role in the growth of Atlanta and the rebirth of his boxing career.

Drawn to beautiful clothes and unique designs early in life, Ann Moore pursued a career in couture fashion during a time when the profession, always competitive, was especially out of reach for African Americans. Her hard work and determination carried her from Atlanta to Detroit as well as to the most exclusive fashion locales in New York and Paris. 30 of her pieces are housed in Atlanta History Museum’s extensive Fashion and Textile collections.

At four feet in diameter, Backstreet nightclub proudly held the largest disco ball in the Southeast. Located in Midtown, Backstreet was a 24-hour dance club, bar, cabaret, and entertainment center composed of three levels and 10,000 square feet. First installed over the club’s dance floor in 1977, the iconic disco ball oversaw 27 years of changing dance tunes For many in the LGBTQ+ community, the disco ball represents more than the dancing and partying that are often associated with it

In 2021, the Atlanta History Center was awarded the Basic Preservation Grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation to preserve and make available four Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce films spanning from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. The films document Atlanta’s shifting landscape resulting from economic population growth during the mid-20th century, as well as the impact of Atlanta’s first professional soccer team.

Metro Atlanta has one of the largest concentrations of Hispanic people in the country, and this vibrant, growing community is helping reshape the city’s culture, economy, and way of life for the better.

When Azhar Mehmood and his wife Farah opened Mughals in 1994, they not only invited Atlantans to experience authentic Pakistani food, but also helped lay the foundation for Pakistani cultural life in metro Atlanta.

Only one of the three famous nursery rhymes featuring sheep originated in America. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, both “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and “Little Bo Peep” first appeared in England, and antiquity has clouded their origins. The story is different for “Mary’s Lamb” written by Sarah Josepha Hale—one of the most remarkable women of the 19th century.

From 1949 when it opened until the late 1960s, the Royal Peacock was Atlanta’s premier nightclub. Located at 186 Auburn Avenue, people dressed to the nines would line up in lines that wrapped around the block just to see the best entertainers in the country including James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye. The club helped create the fertile soil that allowed Atlanta to become the hip-hop and rhythm and blues capital of the South.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the middle of the Civil War, ending slavery for those in Confederate-aligned slave-holding states and territories. Freedom for those who had been enslaved meant the hope of opportunity and the potential for a brighter future. These are some of the stories of the formerly enslaved and their lives after slavery.

For African Americans, Juneteenth commemorates the final liberation of their ancestors who were enslaved. Why not honor that historic day by planting an Emancipation Garden? An Emancipation Garden is a refreshing way to nourish body and soul, recreate and remember the foodways of African Americans in the South, and celebrate the freedom of the formerly enslaved.

At the end of the Civil War, millions of enslaved people living in the United States became free. “Freedom Across Georgia” explores the experiences of six formerly enslaved people from Georgia and their individual stories of freedom.

On the same day Roe v. Wade was decided, the Supreme Court also ruled in Doe v. Bolton. Doe v. Bolton was the companion case to Roe v. Wade that expanded women’s access to abortion.  

The diverse botanical landscapes and healthy forests of the Goizueta Gardens are perfect for producing insects and caterpillars and are perfect for summer birds. These are just a few of the birds that are found here in spring and summertime; take a moment in the gardens and you may hear or see them yourself.

Long before workers at Starbucks and Amazon began fighting for the right to collectively bargain, workers at Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills fought to unionize, creating a blueprint for those in the present-day.